The nib is custom made by Schon DSGN in their Philadelphia workshop and is formed from a single piece of titanium. There is so much thought and consideration in the development of this nib that I could prattle on about how it was created but I won’t do it nearly the justice it deserves. I recommend reading the details directly from Schon DSGN and even take time to watch the video.

I mean, I couldn’t even get a good clear photo of the full depth of this nib what makes you think I can talk eloquently about it?!?! But dig that star engraved on the back side of the nib! Such a nice touch!

For a comparison in size, the Pocket Six is similar in size to the Kaweco Sport but the aluminum material feels weightier and sturdier.

While the Monoc nib will fit into any pen that takes a JOWO nib unit, putting this unique nib in one of Schon DSGN’s awesome anonized aluminum fountain pen designs seems like the best way to show off its unique looks.

In writing tests, I used the pen on both Tomoe River paper and a Nakabayashi Logical Prime notebook. I purchased the fine nib but it is definitely a European fine and more comparable to a MF or medium nib for me. It’s silky smooth to write with and can be used in a wide variety of angles. The nib can be flipped over and used upside down and it writes with a slightly finer point. It can also be angled from a low- to high-writing angle without any issues. If you’ve ever had issues with fountain pen nibs do to an unusual writing angle, the Monoc nib might be the perfect option for you.

Overall, I am thrilled I can support (with help from my Patrons!) Ian and his crazy adventures in nib making. The looks and overall quality of his pens in next level. They are modern and echo to our fountain pen history at the same time. The term visionary gets thrown around a lot but what Schon DSGN is doing really is visionary.

The Monoc nib is expensive but it is made in the US using premium materials and is tested before its sent out. If you are more interested in the Pocket Six, I also can’t recommend them enough. This galactic look Pocket Six is my second Pocket Six.  The original has been a daily carry since I got it and I suspect the new galactic Monoc will join its sister, the “Ferrara Rocher” hammered brass with a custom nib from Franklin-Christoph.

The post Pen & Nib Review: Schon DSGN Monoc Nib & Anodized Aluminum “Pocket Six” Fountain Pen appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The exterior is entirely opaque white plastic with a clear ring at the cap band. The clip is integrated into the cap and is smooth straight line with no embellishment.

The only branding is the classic “p” and the nib width indication of “03” which is the fine nib.

The pen performs just as well as a regular Preppy but with a simple, clean exterior. The Platinum nib, as always, is smooth and the snap cap makes it a great on-the-go pen. If you have access to a Muji store, I would recommend looking for this gem.

This pen was sent to me by a dear friend.

The post Mini-Review: Muji Fountain Pen appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Despite really liking my TWSBI ECOs, I’ve never actually branched out and tried any of their other pens. (I take that back, I tried the TWSBI Swipe a while ago and thought it was ok.) But this time I saw the TWSBI Diamond Mini AL in Grape (a limited edition color!; $62.50) and decided to give the more expensive model a go!

The Diamond Mini AL is TWSBI’s version of a pocket pen. It is styled similarly to the other pens, in the sense that it has a transparent plastic barrel which gives you a bird’s eye view of the piston filling system. There are differences though. The grip and part of the piston system are designed in aluminum. The barrel of the pen is faceted (hence the “Diamond” feel and look). While the ECO and the SWIPE tend to be boxier, with edges on the cap, the Diamond Mini’s edges are rounded, and the cap is tapered. Overall while the ECO is utilitarian, the Diamond Mini is a bit sleeker looking.

I decided to compare a few pens that I use as daily writers to give you a sense of size.

L to R: TWSBI Eco, TWSBI Diamond Mini AL, Kaweco AL Sport, Sailor Pro-Gear Slim.

While the pens vary quite a bit in length when capped, when uncapped the Diamond Mini AL and the Kaweco AL Sport aren’t that different in length. The nibs, however, do have a size differential. In terms of weight they’re very similar: The Pro Gear comes in at 19gm, the ECO at 20, the AL Sport at 21g, and finally the Diamond Mini AL is the heaviest at 23g. But that’s not a HUGE range.

So what do I think? If I’m entirely 100% honest, I don’t feel much of a writing difference between the ECO and the Diamond Mini AL. This is my first extra fine nib from TWSBI, and given that TWSBI tends to use western-style nibs, I don’t find the extra fine to be scratchy in the least. In fact I quite like it. The pen is a bit weightier in my hand, and it’s smaller in size, but I have small hands and it seems like a comfortable writer. So what would make me pay more for the Diamond AL Mini? To me, it comes down to aesthetics. The Mini is fun, and often I do prefer aluminum to plastic (see my preferences for Kawecos!), but given that I don’t see a huge writing difference, I feel like I’m more apt to stick with the ECOs than amass another collection.

Do you have a favorite TWSBI? I’d love to hear about it!

• Paper: Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Notebook – A5 – Graph ($10.00)
• Pen: TWSBI Diamond Mini AL in Grape ($62.50)
• Inks: Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu (50mL for $26.00)

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge or at a discount for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Fountain Pen Review: TWSBI Diamond Mini AL Grape – Limited Edition appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

So, over the past few weeks, I’ve acquired TWO new models into my collection: the Smooth Sage ($29, EF nib) and the Frosted Blush Pitaya ($24.50, B nib).

I must confess that this is the first Kaweco Sport with a B nib and I am surprised  how much I am enjoying it. It  isn’t as broad and the BB I tested out years ago and preformed like a Sharpie marker.

Needless to say, my recommendation is that if you’ve never purchased a Kaweco Sport, what in the world are you waiting for? There are dozens of color options and you can even upgrade to the AL-Sport if you want a shiny, and more durable version. We like those too.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Mini-Review: Kaweco Sage Fountain Pen (& Frosted Blush Pitaya) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I was totally caught by surprise when I saw the new North American exclusive Sailor ProGear Line Friends CONY Fountain Pen ($312). I squealed with delight at how cute it was! I am not familiar with the Line Friends series, but the characters look a lot like Sanrio-esque cute Japanese characters. I grew up as a Hello Kitty kid (quite the opposite to the goth teen I became, right?).

There have been some previous characters like a bear and a duck but oh, the pink CONY bunny! The design of the pen was more interesting as well.  I haven’t bought a new fountain pen for myself in awhile and then in the same week, I found the BENU Skull & Roses Crow and the CONY — the two sides of my Gemini personality, one half cute and the other, a little spooky. I hit Buy It Now and didn’t look back.

Are the current Sailor Pro Gear fountain pens quite expensive? Yes. Should I be supporting this kind of financial excessiveness? No. Did I buy it anyway? Yes.

The pen body is a mix of material colors: the cap is translucent pink with an opaque pink end cap, the body is a milky white with an opaque black end cap. The grip section (shown in a photo below) is a milky pink. The whole pen features silver hardware.

Through the milky barrel, it’s possible to see the color of the converter.

So, of course the converter is pink!

The end cap on the cap feature the smiley face of CONY.

And the best part? The engraved CONY on the nib.

I love the Sailor 14K EF nib and despite efforts to expand my nib options, for everyday journal and daily writing, I always go back to the Sailor 14K EF nib as my go-to. My first ink pick for the pen was Sailor Studio 237 but it was a bit too light with the EF nib. Monteverde Kindness is a much brighter pink than I had wanted to use but is way easier to read.

My conclusions: do I recommend that you drop over $300 for a limited edition Sailor ProGear Slim? Only if you have the cash and want a pink bunny pen. Do I recommend a ProGear Slim in general? Yes. Despite the escalating prices, the Sailor ProGear is still one of the best pens I’ve ever owned and there’s a reason why I have more than one.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Fountain Pen Review: Sailor Line Friends Cony (NA Exclusive) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Inside me there is still a 16-year-old goth girl. There. I’ve said it. I outed myself. So, when I saw the Benu Skull & Roses Crow Fountain Pen ($163) I knew I had to have it.

I first saw the Skull & Roses pens at the LA Pen Show at the  Dromgoole’s tables where Jesi and I were working. We both debated buying the pens on the table but we had so many people checking them out that we both waited to see if the pens sold at the show.

Then we got all “quick! we gotta pack up!” and I forgot to grab the Skull & Roses pen. A few weeks after returning from the pen show, I started thinking, “Dang! I wish I had bought that BENU,” but by that point, I couldn’t find the pen in stock anywhere.

I gave up getting one, until I saw that Truphae had them in stock and, as June is my birthday month, I decided to celebrate still being a kid, and bought it for myself.

The BENU packaging is pretty uneventful (and hence, not photographed) and that’s fine by me. It’s a simple white box with gold lettering and the pen is in a white, paperboard tube cushioned in paper shred inside. While the packaging is fully recyclable it doesn’t give away the cacaphony of color or funkiness going on inside the box. Sneaky.

The Skull & Roses Crow is a pretty silly pen all things considered.  It utilizes a traditional tapered, cigar shape with deeply engraved roses along the cap and barrel and a ring of engraved skulls around the cap band. The pen is a solid black plastic material with a texture in the non-embossed areas to give the pen a leather-like look — kind of like the texture on an old book.One might think of it as a budget-friendly subtler version of the Chaos pen (IYKYK).

The pen did come with a universal cartridge converter which I filled with “be still my Goth-y heart” Sailor Studio 350.

The nib is a standard Schmidt #5 nib. Love ’em or hate ’em, BENU uses Schmidt nibs. I got the EF nib and it was a little scratchy but I used a bit of micromesh and was able to smooth it out. I’m spoiled from years of using Sailor nibs so I still find the nib to be a bit stiff and not as fine as I’d like it but its a decent nib.

Specs:

• Length: 5.375 (capped)
• Length  5″ (uncapped)
• Weight 21gms (capped and filled)
• Weight 16gms (uncapped with full converter)

The smooth grip section is about 0.875″ long with a minimal step down from the threads and an added bit of smooth matte grip area along the pen body creating a space of about 1.5″ overall to grip the pen without coming into contact with the deep sculpted designs.  For some, the deeply engraved exterior and small size may cause pressure on your hand from the design. I didn’t find the sculpted body to be too bothersome for everyday notetaking but I wouldn’t choose this pen to do NaNoWriMo or other marathon writing.

The cap is not really post-able which limits the length.

The Skull & Roses is also available in a translucent red and a mixed black-body-with-translucent-red band called Smolder (currently sold out).

In the end, the plus sides are the ridiculously goth-y design, lightweight and reasonable price. For some folks the downside would be the small Schmidt nib, not post-able and too much engraving that may interfere with overall writing comfort. My thinking is that if you are attracted to the design, the “downsides” can be overlooked because… c’mon, skulls & roses!

DISCLAIMER: Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Fountain Pen Reivew: Benu Skull & Roses Crow Fountain Pen appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

My Google-fu tells me that the Pilot Explorer debuted in 2019 and I’m not quite sure how I missed it. Well, I have a few guesses. My first Pilot love was actually the Pilot Metropolitan series. When I first started getting into fountain pens, the Metropolitans were in the “under $20 crowd” which meant they were easily obtainable for me. They came in a variety of fun colors, an array of nib sizes, and were lightweight and felt good in my hand. I may still have several (I can find at least 3 sitting right near me!)

So back to the Explorer. The Explorer is an odd little pen. It’s now priced in the same range as the Pilot Metropolitan (as of writing this the Explorer is $25 and the Metropolitan is $25.42 at JetPens), but it’s a plastic body. Yes, even though it looks like a metallic finish that’s all plastic baby! It comes standard with a steel nib in either Fine or Medium, and a black clip. I also think it looks a lot like the Lamy Safari or AL-Star – doesn’t it remind you of the Vibrant Pink edition?

Then pen comes with a snap cap that is postable, and a proprietary cartridge and converter. (It’s one of the squeeze-y ones so make of that what you will.) The pen is around 5″ uncapped (12.5 cm and 4.8″ to be precise) and 5.5″ capped (14cm and 5.6″). It weighs in at a cool 14g which makes it about the same as the Platinum Preppy that I reviewed a few weeks ago.

All of this is to say that this pen looks and feels like other pens I’ve written with. And while it is perfectly serviceable and nice enough to write with, there’s nothing in it that grabs me and makes me say “Gosh I LOVE this pen.”

Have you tried the Explorer? What do you think?

The post Fountain Pen Review: Pilot Explorer appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I have loved using my Caran d’Ache 849 fountain pens but ever since the very first nib housing broke and I had to replace it, I have had issues with the actual nibs. I have two Cd’A 849s: one hot pink and one fluorescent green (my signature colors!) and have had them tuned repeatedly because the nibs were not performing properly. I was getting hard starts and weird nib scratchiness. I didn’t know what was up.

So, this weekend, after cleaning and trying to use these pens again with a great deal of frustration, I decided to see if any of the random nibs I had laying around might fit into the feed housing. At this point, I wasn’t going to make my situation any worse since the pens weren’t writing with any consistency.

I started rooting around in my junk pen drawer looking for a small, No. 5-ish sized nib. Despite the odd shape of the Cd’A nibs, they have a standard arc at the end that fits into the feed and housing so it was worth a shot. I had several Chinese pens I purchased years ago in an effort to see what they were like. And while the nibs were smooth and wrote well, the cheap plastic barrels were not particularly interesting to me so the pens never got much use except when I needed to do comparisons. Well, it turned out that the Chinese No. 5 nibs fit perfectly. I had two Dlike nibs in slightly different nib sizes that I slotted into the Cd’A housing and VOILA! no more hard starts or weird scratching, angle issues.

I think the biggest advantage that the Dlike nibs have over the Cd’A is the breather hole. I could be wrong. the Cd’A nibs might just be garbage or I may have exceeded 100K miles on both of them (I got these back in 2017). But because these two pens are my absolute everyday go-to pens for work, I didn’t want to give them up just because the nibs weren’t working for me. These pens have features that make them my prized office pens: snap caps and room for TWO standard international cartridges. They are also eye searingly bright so I know where they are at any given moment.

Do you have any pens that you love but don’t love the nibs? Have you tried swapping out the nib, getting it tuned or buying a new nib? Tell me your nib stories in the comments!

The post I Modded My 849s! appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

So what are we to do but have a pen sale and find forever homes for these beauties! A few notes about the sale going on right now over in the Well-Appointed Desk shop:

• All pens are in “gently used” condition. At a minimum they have been inked and used for review, and they may have been used a little more than that.
• All pens are listed at prices to sell. Many of these pens we bought with our own money but, regardless, prices are mostly well below retail.
• All pens come as is in the listing (with or without boxes and converters included, with the nibs specified). We don’t like surprises.
• It should go without saying, but these are all lovely pens in working order. We’re not getting rid of them because they don’t work. More like our pen cups runneth over and we’d like to see them get used and loved.

We hope you find a new-to-you pen and we’re thrilled to send it to a new home!

The post Did someone say pen sale? appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The Nautilus pen design features porthole windows around the barrel, just below the cap that allows the user to see the ink piston inside. Ahoy, ink matey!

In the past we’ve reviewed other Nahvalur (formerly Narwhal) designs like the Key West and the Voyage. The design of the Voyage is similar in terms of build and size. The porthole windows being the only distinct visual difference in the two models. The big upsell on the Brilliant Bunny is the 14k nib.

The 14k nib is specially engraved for this limited edition. I love with waves around the edge of the nib. Unfortunately, the only nib size available for this special edition is M but there’s enough tipping material that it could be ground to a finer size, if desired.  We did not want to ink this up so that it would be pristine for the winner but we did “dry test” it to get a feel for the nib. The 14k nib has a bit of spring to it but it is not a flex nib. It will be a very expressive nib, reacting to the amount of pressure the writer applies.

Size:

• Capped: 6″
• Uncapped:  5.25″

The Nautilus does not post.

Weight:

• Capped: 31gms
• Uncapped: 17gms

The cap is heaver than I expected but since it can’t be posted it won’t throw the balance of the pen off.

There have only be 50 of the Brilliant Bunny pens made and we are fortunate to have one to giveaway to a lucky reader. If you want to guarantee that you’ll be a proud owner of one of these pens, hop over to Enigma Stationery and order yours today.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us what your Chinese Zodiac sign is. If you don’t know, make one up. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give themonkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday, March 17, 2023 (St. Patrick’s Day — oh, the irony!). All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Enigma Stationery for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Fountain Pen Giveaway: Enigma Stationery Nahvalur Exclusive ‘Brilliant Bunny’ Nautilus Fountain Pen appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.